SeaLife Center gets daunting chance to raise baby octopuses

KENAI, Alaska (AP) – Alaska’s SeaLife Center is getting its third shot at raising thousands of octopus hatchlings, hoping at least one of the translucent mollusks will grow into its 50-pound, color-changing form.

The Peninsula Clarion reports that such a task has been completed just once before – by the Seattle Aquarium in the 1980s. The SeaLife Center had giant pacific octopus hatchlings twice before, in 2005 and 2013.

This time, the center’s octopus Gilligan, named after the 1960s TV show “Gilligan’s Island,” has raised about 100 eggs into hatchlings with more to come. The center says giant pacific octopuses usually lay a clutch of between 20,000 to 80,000 eggs, from which about 1 percent of the young survive in the wild. Success rates are even lower in captivity due to hatchlings’ fragility.

Information from: (Kenai, Alaska) Peninsula Clarion, http://www.peninsulaclarion.com

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